We use Chase Paymentech through the Potters Council, so we have to call in every charge and enter them manually after a show (that's fodder for another topic). We're still using a knuckle buster for our charges, but with the holiday season approaching we're not looking forward to another season of using the clunky machine which is slow and makes us look like we're still in the 90s. I know many people use square with a smart phone or ipad, but we already have the merchant service and I like giving our customers a paper credit card receipt.

Does anyone use a credit card reader/printer for this purpose? It doesn't need to authorize the transactions because we'll still need to call them in manually. It would be nice to enter an amount, swipe the card, and have two receipts print out (one for them to sign and one for them to take with them). If so, where did you get it and what model do you have? There are some fairly inexpensive ones on eBay, but I don't know if any credit card reader/printer will do.

There are many ways to give the customer a paper receipt. If thats all you care about and do not mind about calling it in-call Merchant Warehouse and ask about some low cost options as far as equipment-You do not have to use them just find out what is out there and what it costs.
I have a wireless nurit/virafone 8020 its wireless and has a 24$ a month charge its more than you are asking about but they have lesser stuff that will do your job.
Mark

If you go look there is a printer and cash box option that can be used for Square. I have not used it, but it seems simple, however there was two things that you need in order for this to work right, besides purchasing the printer, cash box, and WiFi/LAN device. You need to have an ipad with Wireless internet, then you need to have power at your booth to power the printer and WiFi device. The issue is that you need to use the WiFi in order for the iPad to communicate to the printer, but the printer uses a wired Ethernet cable. There for you need to have a WiFi enabled network hub/switch in order for them to communicate.

It is not difficult, and it is not too expensive either, but does take a little know how to setup properly at an art show. I think they intended this setup to be used in a fixed retail or restaurant environment.

Years ago I had a merchant account where I had to dial in the credit card numbers after a show, and I wished I had a device that would swipe credit cards and store the info until I got home. The reason that type of device doesn't exist is because it would be a fraudster's dream come true, to swipe credit cards and save their numbers for later use. All of the devices that swipe are designed to process the credit cards then immediately delete the numbers.

Can someone here answer if the Potters Council service is compatible with a terminal? And if so, how much does it cost?

If you already have a smartphone or iPad, then the Square or the Intuit Gopayment swiper are your best bets. You can still hand your customers a paper receipt.

Years ago I had a merchant account where I had to dial in the credit card numbers after a show, and I wished I had a device that would swipe credit cards and store the info until I got home. The reason that type of device doesn't exist is because it would be a fraudster's dream come true, to swipe credit cards and save their numbers for later use. All of the devices that swipe are designed to process the credit cards then immediately delete the numbers.

Can someone here answer if the Potters Council service is compatible with a terminal? And if so, how much does it cost?

If you already have a smartphone or iPad, then the Square or the Intuit Gopayment swiper are your best bets. You can still hand your customers a paper receipt.

Mea

My device (verafone 8020) will still do this Mea if its not getting reception I set it to whats called store forward-When you get to a land line or a better wireless signal it will download all the cards taken that day-as you noted you are taking all the risk as its does not know whats a bad card.Store forward is a function I have needed at a few shows over the past years-I would not get a device without it. It also works when the network is overloaded (like at big shows)The new smart phone stuff will not do this.Mark

Years ago I had a merchant account where I had to dial in the credit card numbers after a show, and I wished I had a device that would swipe credit cards and store the info until I got home. The reason that type of device doesn't exist is because it would be a fraudster's dream come true, to swipe credit cards and save their numbers for later use. All of the devices that swipe are designed to process the credit cards then immediately delete the numbers.

Can someone here answer if the Potters Council service is compatible with a terminal? And if so, how much does it cost?

If you already have a smartphone or iPad, then the Square or the Intuit Gopayment swiper are your best bets. You can still hand your customers a paper receipt.

Mea

My device (verafone 8020) will still do this Mea if its not getting reception I set it to whats called store forward-When you get to a land line or a better wireless signal it will download all the cards taken that day-as you noted you are taking all the risk as its does not know whats a bad card.Store forward is a function I have needed at a few shows over the past years-I would not get a device without it. It also works when the network is overloaded (like at big shows)The new smart phone stuff will not do this.Mark

Yes my nurit will "store and forward", but as soon as I plug in the nurit into a phone line, the charges are processed and the numbers are erased. It's not what Larry's looking for. He wants to punch in the cc numbers himself so he doesn't have to alter his merchant account. However, what I'm suggesting to Larry is to ask Potters Council or Chase if their service can work with a store and forward terminal. And if not, I think he should go with Intuit or Square.

I've been using the Intuit service for a few shows. So far it has worked well (definitely only takes one swipe per card so I think it would solve the issue you mention in another thread). Howver I do worry about those times when I can't get a cellular signal, because it doesn't store and forward either.

One more idea for you ... if you decide to stick with Chase Paymentech and an imprinter.... I don't know what type of knucklebuster you are using but possibly you could simply buy a smaller and sleeker imprinter? When I had to imprint credit cards, I was much happier when I switched from the conventional knucklebuster to one of these:

Mark, I have a call out to Merchant Warehouse to see what they suggest. I wonder if just about any credit card reader/printer would be able to do what I want, as long as I can tell it to skip the authorization step and just print the receipt.

Brian and Neil, I'm still trying to avoid the smart phone options for now and stick with Chase Paymentech through the Potters Guild. I think it's just a matter of time, though, before we're all processing charges with our phones.

Mea, I'll check with Chase to see if they can take any kind of terminal. I'm trying to keep it simple and just replace the knuckle buster with a card reader, especially now that more cards no longer have the raised numbers. I've seen those smaller imprinters before, and I wondered if they worked well. If I can't find what I'm looking for, maybe I'll try one.

I use ProPay for my credit card sales. I bought a Magtek reader from ProPay -- I just swipe the card, the reader reads and stores the magnetic card info. At the end of the day, I upload to the ProPay site by connecting the reader with a USB cable. ProPay gives me the customer's name and last four card digits. All I have to do is enter the amount of sale and submit it for processing. When processed, I delete the card info. In some of the areas I do fairs, cell phone coverage is rather spotty. So, a reader gives me more flexibility than smartphone.

Having a merchant account is extremely advantageous for any business. For any business providing convenient payment system is utmost important . And now people don't believe in carrying cash for purchasing instead plastic money is most commonly used by customer so having a merchant account and credit card accepting machine is a need.

My last two shows where about 50/50 cash credit cards with one check, Thats over two states and about 14K in sales.Mark